This invention relates to a process for producing m-hydroxybenzyl alcohol (to be abbreviated mHBOH hereinafter).
mHBOH is a compound useful as an intermediate for industrial and agricultural chemicals, but to date, has not been commercially supplied by an inexpensive production method.
mHBOH has been synthesized, for example, by a fermentation method using m-cresol as a starting material, or methods relying on reduction and hydrogenation with sodium amalgam, NaBH.sub.4, LiAlH.sub.4, etc. using m-hydroxybenzaldehyde as a starting material. These methods, however, are not commercially feasible because of insufficient yields. Furthermore, since the hydrogenation reaction involves high temperatures and pressures, it raises various problems in industrial practice.
Reduction with sodium amalgam or electrolysis was proposed in the case of using m-hydroxybenzoic acid (to be abbreviated mHBA hereinafter) [Bericht, 38, 1752 (1905)]. This method, however, gives only a low yield, and cannot be an industrial method.